"Bully" Song: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Sheet music for the song Bully Song. The front cover of sheet music features a caricatured illustration of an African American man in a blue checkered jacket, blue and white striped pants, and a small white and black hat. The man is depicted holding a razor in his proper right hand. The black ink type on front cover reads: [May Irwin's / Bully Song / AS SUNG WITH / GREAT SUCCESS / IN THE / "WIDOW JONES" / WORDS AND MUSIC / BY /Charles E. Trevathan]. Type referring to the copyright is in the bottom left corner, but it has been torn off. In the top left corner of the cover there is handwriting in blue ink that reads: [This is the only / correct publication / of the "Bully Song" / as sung by me / in "The Widow Jones." / May Irwin]. The back of the cover has the beginning of the “Bully Song” in black print.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1896
• Subject of: May Irwin, Canadian, 1862 - 1938
• Composed by: Charles E. Trevathan
• Owned by: Vernon Sugg McDonald, American, 1906 - 1982
• Owned by: Mary Elizabeth Sugg, American, 1839 - 1915
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 12 5/16 × 9 in. (31.3 × 22.9 cm)
• Place collected: Sugg McDonald House, Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Minstrel (Music)
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2014.275.19
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Sylvia Alden Roberts
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public Domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.